Biography of a Nord Woman
by Brenna Dagmar
Summary: Follow a Nord woman through the story of her life and the great mystery surrounding her past, filled with adventure, friendship, tragedy, romance and mystery. Disclaimer: I do not own Skyrim or Elder Scrolls... but Brenna is mine... Inspired by an rp, Thank you Marred Tales!
1. Prologue

The wind howled gusting viciously through the trees as lightning flashed briefly lighting the pitch black night.

Freezing rain pelted the ground unceasingly as all smart creatures hid within shelters waiting for the storm to pass, no living soul would want to be out in weather as awful as this storm yet as lightning once again flashed across the sky illuminating a small form moving through the forest at full speed.

A young girl ran through the forest a look of terror and pain on her face as she moved, dark chestnut colored hair clung wetly to her face while the plain rags she wore made a wet sucking sound every time she moved not that it could be heard over the raging storm.

Even for a Nord she had unusually pale skin as blood mixed with rain ran in rivlets down her back and legs, the child suddenly tripped in her mad flight falling face down a large gaping wound that appeared almost more like a rip than a cut ran diagonally down the length of her back.

The wound was very deep and still bleeding heavily so it wasn't too surprising when the child did not get back up but just lay there twitching every now and then, what was surprising was that she was even still alive at all considering most people would have bled to death already however in this case the very tip of the weapon used broke off inside the girl and was actually blocking an artery and slowing the flow of blood.

Bright golden light filtered down through the trees dappling the ground below in uneven patches of light, flowers bloomed all over the place and green grass and other plants were growing vibrantly.

Deer slowly moved through the trees stopping here and there to nibble at some greenery, suddenly seemingly out of nowhere an arrow whizzed through the air and hit one of the deer. The animal bolted in pain and fear, it ran blindly only speeding the flow of blood from the wound until the deer stumbled and fell.

It struggled to get up but failed until it stopped moving, three hunters followed the deer's trail and as the beast came into view the most junior Hunter got excited and made a mad dash for the carcass without looking at his surroundings first.

He tripped and fell over something in the undergrowth and cried out loudly in surprise and concern as he realized what he'd tripped over was a young girl. She was soaked with a nasty jagged wound in her back and all the color had drained from her skin, he was sure she was dead until she twitched slightly and as he touched her forehead tenderly almost expecting her to be freezing was surprised to find her skin felt like it was on fire "hey look! She's actually alive... and has a hell of a fever..." the oldest of the hunters came over and shook his head sadly "lift her gently and let's get her to a temple of Kynereth immediately, only the priests and priestess of Kyne can help her now... if anyone can" he said glumly as the other two lifted her gently and the elder directed them along the smoothest rout, the deer lay forgotten and eventually fell to scavengers.

Pain... searing, burning, pounding, persistent white hot pain. Blue eyes briefly fluttered open only to immediately shut again as blinding bright light only added to the girl's pain, a soft pitiful moan of pure misery escaped past her swollen and cracked lips and she attempted to curl into herself.

A loud hoarse cry shattered the stillness as the girl instantly regretted the movement "oh you're awake, please try to be still my dear you suffered quite the nasty wound and even our best healers had some trouble with it so best to try not to open it back up."

A soft gentle voice attempted to sooth her and her cry shifted into a soft whimper, the day went by and she was inspected by healers, her bandages changed with fresh pultices added, now that she was awake they also had her drink down a few different types of healing potions some of them quite vile while healing spells were also applied.

When night came her pain had eased enough for her to fall into a restless nightmare filled sleep though she could never actually remember the dreams upon waking. This continued for months and months, during her entire recovery she had no visitor's save the healers themselves, no one ever came looking for her, there was not even the merest hint of a missing child and when questioned on where she came from the girl found she could remember nothing including her own name.

Several more months go by and the girl is recovering well, when asked by the healers she can now bend, twist, run, walk and jump.

At first she'd had a little trouble with the bending and twisting but her wound was all but healed now even if in spite of every effort from the healers it would always be a nasty scar. Now she could move as easily as if she had never been injured and still no one had stepped forward to claim her, one night she overheard them discussing what to do with her. They had taken to calling her Brenna after the character in her favorite story and she perked up when she heard her name "it's time, Brenna isn't sick or injured anymore and it's our job to care for the infermed not orphans.

The orphanage in Riften will be just fine and there will even be other children she can play with, she'll leave for Honorhall in the morning... you know it's what's best" the other healer sighed but nodded "I suppose you're right..."

The next morning after being fed Brenna was taken by one of the healers to Honorhall Orphanage in Riften, the trip took most of the day and was actually quite pleasant. The healer spoke of the beauty and blessings of nature while Brenna anxiously looked forward to meeting other children.

Their arrival was greeted by a cheery Constance Michelle and everything appeared to be perfectly in order as she was taken to meet the other children and the healer said his goodbyes, it was upon being introduced to Grelod the Kind that Brenna got her first inkling that all was not right with Honorhall.

Grelod the 'Kind' glared at her hatefully "more worthless gutter trash no one wants... look you little brat you better tell me every night before bed how much you love me and appreciate my kindess..." Grelod seemed to expect instant obedience but still new, having gotten used to the general way of the healers, and innocently curious Brenna made the mistake of asking and pointing out "but... why? That doesn't seem very kind.."

This was the wrong thing to say as Grelod flew into a rage and grabbed a fistful of Brenna's chestnut locks yanking her by the hair while she yelped in pained surprise as she was dragged across the room until they stood before a door. The whole time Grelod was ranting "ungrateful little snot! Time someone taught you respect, how dare you talk back to me!"

Her eyes looked truly mad as spittle foamed at the corners of her wrinkled mouth giving her a rabid appearance as she yanked open the door to reveal what appeared to be a large closet with shackles bolted into the wall at the perfect height for children.

Grelod almost looked gleeful as she dragged Brenna over to a set of shackles and locked her wrists in "going to teach you to never say anything back to me but yes Grelod and thank you for your kindness" she grabbed a leather belt and struck Brenna across the back and though healed her still somewhat tender scar tissue took great offense to the lashing as she screamed out in pain.

Tears ran freely from her eyes and black spots danced around the edges of her vision while Grelod merely cackled and continued to strike her again and again either oblivious or uncaring of Brenna's true pain until once again in her brief life she completely passed out due to unbearable pain.


	2. Life at Honorhall

Soft rays of sunlight peaked through the cracks in the Orphanage walls, Brenna slowly cracked her eyes open and the first thing she became aware of was how sore she felt. Her entire body ached, she was sure this was how it must feel to get trampled "hmph! About time you woke up you lazy brat!" The angry grating voice of Grelod the Kind was the first thing to greet her ears and she winced slightly at the sound "well... hurry up and get out of bed you lazy whelp, you won't get a second chance to go out in the yard so get out of my sight before I change my mind and have you clean this whole orphanage top to bottom!"

Remembering the events of yesterday Brenna managed to bite her tongue be fore grinding out "yes Grelod, thank you for your kindness." She scrambled out of bed and headed for the door she assumed led to the side yard throwing back a hateful glare over her shoulder before hurrying outside.

"Skeever breath!" "Big nose!" "Lizard brain!" As Brenna entered the side yard the sound of childish insults could immediately be heard and as she looked she saw a group of children all crowded around another child hurling dirt as well as insults. As Brenna took a step closer to see what was going on she realized the child being bullied wasn't human, she was an Argonian and Brenna only assumed the child was a she because she was wearing a dress rather similar to her own.

Brenna wasn't sure what had preceded but the situation seemed so unfair and Brenna didn't think anyone really deserved to be ganged up on like that so without even thinking about it she walked up "hey!" She crossed her arms and glared at the other children fiercely "that's enough, leave her alone now!" The biggest boy pushed through the crowd and stood in front of her and sneered "oh yeah, and what are you going to do about it?" He was taller than her by a bit and looked like he was older and an Imperial not that she really cared, rather than some snotty reply she simply lunged forward punching him hard in the stomach causing him to fall to the ground clutching his stomach and crying pitifully. Brenna glared at the others "any body else?" The other children glanced at each other before dispersing and whispering amongst each other and Brenna reached out to the Argonian child offering to help her up. The Argonian snarled and slapped Brenna's hand away "get away from me! I don't need any help!" The Argonian child ran off not even bothering to brush the dirt off herself, Brenna shrugged shaking her head so much for gratitude.

Brenna moved off to play by herself thinking that would be the end of it but just as she bent to examine a blue flower something grabbed her arm and twisted it violently before pinning it behind her back. She cried out and attempted to twist around and confront her attacker but he slammed his weight into her pinning her to the ground "not so tough now are you!" She recognized the voice as the boy she'd struck, she snarled "tougher than you coward!" She managed to get her legs under her and with all her might shoved against the ground flipping them over, in surprise he released her arm and she twisted raising her fist to strike him hard once again when a terrible screech echoed across the yard. Both children looked up to see Grelod standing in the doorway to the little side yard and both children quickly separated wearing identical looks of horror, it was too late however and Grelod marched over grumbling and screeching about what ungrateful little rats they were. She grabbed their arms in a vice like grip dragging them inside the boy immediately began crying and blubbering apologies while begging forgiveness, Brenna just grit her teeth and glared hatefully at the old woman as they were forced to clean the orphanage top to bottom in punishment while she followed them about kicking them whenever she thought they were slacking or slowing down.

By the time they'd finished it was night and they were both sent to bed without food, the next day was relatively uneventful as none of the other kids spoke to her and she didn't try to speak to them though with relatively little to do besides chores this made for a rather boring and lonely existence. The next few days went just the same and Brenna wasn't sure how much longer she could bear this, being treated as if she were alone when in actuality surrounded by others only intensified her loneliness and longing for freedom and she began to grow restless. Not that she was the only one treated horribly by Grelod the kind, Grelod was horrible to everyone with the least provocation even lashing out sometimes for no particular reason.

One time she'd chained a girl up in the closet for almost a week just because she'd dropped her fork at dinner, another time she beat a boy so badly he couldn't walk right the next day or for several days after. All of the children were miserable and in their own misery they tended to lash out at each other at times though Brenna thought if they'd just work together they could probably overpower Grelod and escape.

Finally unable to bear being completely ignored Brenna began preforming small acts of defiance purposely goading Grelod into punishing her, during one such act she snuck into Grelod's room during the middle of the night. She was surprised and angered to learn after going through Grelod's stuff and finding some documents that some percentage of the cities tax money was given to the orphanage for upkeep and care however as far as she could tell Grelod spent the most minimal amount possible on either as for what she actually did with the rest of the money Brenna could only speculate as Grelod rarely left and there wasn't much in her room that would be particularly expensive.

Grelod woke up suddenly and catching sight of Brenna reading her documents and rifling through her things screeched and lunged for her, Brenna squeaked dropping the papers in her hand and ducking under the madwomans arms. The chase only made things worse for Brenna when she was finally caught as Grelod chained her in the closet for a week, Brenna began losing track of time after thay as the days turned to weeks and the weeks morphed into months and Brenna watched new scars grow on her young body even as she herself grew. A few years of life like this and Brenna could take no more, she began planning and every day when they were in the side yard she began inspecting the wall though careful not to make it obvious. She snuck out one night carefully carrying a chair she'd stolen from the dining room, she used it to peak over the wall and waiting for any guards to be looking the other way before hauling herself over the wall and landing somewhat less than gracefully on the ground below. Keeping to the shadows she snuck around trying to find a way out without being seen, all the main entrances and exits were too well guarded so she found her way down to the docks instead.

Just as she thought she might make it a guard spotted her "hey what are you doing skulking around over there!" The guard started coming towards her and in a panic not wanting to return to Honorhall she did the only thing she could think of, she jumped over the side of the dock and into the water where she began swimming as hard and fast as she could. She swam until Riften was out of sight and her arms and legs grew sore, finally unable to swim any longer she went ashore where she was almost immediately assaulted by a territorial mudcrab. Luckily she'd thought to grab a knife from the kitchen before leaving the orphanage and untangling it from her sodden dress used it to kill the crab though not before it had managed to cut her arm with it's claws, she tore a piece from her dress and tied it over the wound to stop the bleeding before collapsing in the mud utterly exaughsted.


End file.
